Broadly speaking, your object in practising should be to learn to run
first _safely_, then _easily_, and then _quickly_. This is more or
less equivalent to saying that you should first learn _braking_, then
_turning_, and only then _free straight-running_, and that you should
practise on slopes of _gradually increasing steepness_ as well as in
all sorts of snow.
You should, moreover, by very easy stages, learn jumping from the very
outset.
You will hardly be able to follow the first part of this advice quite
literally, for to learn to brake without learning something about
turning, or to do either without learning to run straight at all is
nearly impossible and quite unnecessary.
The following scheme for five days' practice is one way of setting
to work. If it does not suit you, by all means vary it, but stick to
the principle of learning every manoeuvre in its easiest form pretty
thoroughly before passing to more difficult ones, for this is the best
way to gain confidence if you are nervous, and to steady yourself and
avoid bad habits if you are inclined to be reckless.
Never think of learning to "do a Telemark" or anything else for its own
sake alone, and never look on jumping as an extra.
_1st Morning._--=Hard= _snow on a_ =gentle= _slope_
(10° _to_ 15°) _with level outrun_.
About 15 minutes.--(1) Level going. Hill-climbing (kick-turns,
side-stepping and half side-stepping, herring-boning, &c.). This
will, of course, be distributed throughout the morning practice.
About 30 minutes.--(2) Braking by single-stemming (half snow-plough);
at first from a standstill in stemming position, then from a
traverse in normal running position.
About 30 minutes.--(3) Braking by snow-ploughing; at first nearly from
a standstill on the hillside, then on the level after a direct
descent in normal running position.
About 10 minutes.--(4) Uphill _step_ round to standstill from slow
traverse in normal running position.
About 15 minutes.--(5) Uphill stemming turns from traverse in normal
running position.
About 20 minutes.--(6) Uphill stemming turns (snow-plough and lift
round inner ski) on level from direct descent in normal running
position.
Total, 2 hours.
_1st Afternoon._--_Shallow_ =soft= _snow on_ =gentle= _slope
with level outrun_.
About 30 minutes.--(1) Telemark-stemming while traversing; at first
from a standstill, then from a traverse in Telemark running
position.
About 30 minutes.--(2) Telemark-stemming straight downhill; at first
from a standstill, then on the level after direct free descent in
Telemark position.
About 20 minutes.--(3) Uphill Telemark swings from traverse.
About 20 minutes.--(4) Uphill Telemark swings from direct descent.
About 20 minutes.--(5) Zigzag descent in snow-plough position.
Total, 2 hours.
_2nd Morning._--=Hard= _snow on_ =moderate=
_slope_ (20° _or so_).
About 30 minutes.--(1) Repeat (2) and (3) of first morning's practice.
(If slope steep enough to make snow-ploughing at all difficult,
substitute Telemark-stemming.)
About 30 minutes.--(2) Uphill Christiania swing from traverse; first
from a standstill, then while running in normal position.
_On_ =gentle= _slope_.
About 30 minutes.--(3) Downhill stemming turns from a traverse in
normal position.
About 20 minutes.--(4) Uphill Christiania swings from direct
descent--at first from a standstill.
About 10 minutes.--(5) Uphill jump round to standstill from slow
traverse.
Total, 2 hours.
_2nd Afternoon._--=Soft= _snow on_ =moderate= _slope_.
About 50 minutes.--(1) Repeat (1) to (3) of first afternoon's
practice, running first in Telemark, then in normal position
when practising the swing.
About 15 minutes.--(2) Uphill Christianias from direct descent.
About 5 minutes.--(3) Uphill jump round to standstill from traverse.
_On_ =gentle= _slope_.
About 40 minutes.--(4) Downhill Telemarks.
About 10 minutes.--(5) Practise positions of jumping ("Sats," &c.)
during a direct descent.
Total, 2 hours.
_3rd Morning._--=Hard= _snow on_ =steep= _slope_ (30°).
About 20 minutes.--(1) Side-slipping (both traversing at various
angles and straight down the slope).
About 20 minutes.--(2) Uphill Christianias from traverse.
_On_ =moderate= _slope_.
About 30 minutes.--(3) Uphill Christianias from direct descent.
About 60 minutes.--(4) Downhill stemming turns.
Repeat (3) and (4) on _steep_ slope if you can.
Total, 2 hours.
_3rd Afternoon._--=Soft= _snow on_ =steep= _slope_.
About 10 minutes.--(1) Telemark-stemming traverses and direct descents.
About 30 minutes.--(2) Uphill Telemarks and Christianias from traverse
in normal position.
_On_ =moderate= _slope_.
About 20 minutes.--(3) Uphill Telemarks from direct descent.
About 60 minutes.--(4) Downhill Telemarks.
Repeat (3) and (4) on _steep_ slope if possible.
Total, 2 hours.
_4th Morning.--Jumping._
Practise the positions first of all while running down a slope of
20° or so, not merely straightening up when making the "Sats," but
springing into the air (legs straight). Then do the same at the
point where an upper slope of about 20° joins a lower one of, say,
25°. Then build a low platform at the same point and practise on
that.
_4th Afternoon._
Short practice run--say, 1000-ft. climb.
_5th Day._
Practice expedition--about 2000-ft. climb.
* * * * *
I do not expect for a moment that a single one of my readers will
work through this course in detail exactly as I have set it down, but
these suggestions may at least give him something to disagree with and
rearrange.
Some further explanation of the arrangement of the first three days'
practice may be a help. The idea is that on each day the beginner shall
practise both on _hard_ and _soft_ snow (by all means let him find
breakable crust, too, for his stepping and jumping round if he wants
to be very thorough); that on the first day he learns _braking_ and
the elements of _uphill_ turning on _gentle_ slopes, that next day on
_steeper_ slopes he learns _braking_, _uphill_ turns, and the elements
of _downhill_ turning, and that on the third he learns to _brake_
and turn _uphill_ and, if he can manage it, _downhill_ on _really
steep_ slopes. Incidentally he ought to learn quite enough about
_straight-running_ to find that the least difficult part of his first
practice-run.
The jumping and short-expedition day might very well--perhaps
_better_--be taken after the _second_ day's ordinary practice instead
of after the _third_, where I have put it.
By cutting the _downhill_ turns out of the three days' practice and
learning them later, or by cutting out everything but the various
methods of _braking_, the beginner can more quickly make himself
efficient and safe (though of course slow) as a tourist if he is in a
great hurry to become one. But however he varies his procedure, let him
practise on different sorts of snow and slopes of every steepness up to
30° or so from the very first. One mistake that nearly all beginners
make is that they never practise on anything like a really steep slope,
the result being that the greater part of their practice is pure waste
of time, and utterly useless to them when they go for an expedition.
Finally, let me once more urge the beginner to do everything he can
to make things easier for himself. One excellent plan if he is very
nervous--or even if he is not--is, as Lieutenant Bilgeri suggests, to
learn the manoeuvres of the descent _on the level_ at first, by getting
under way with a few _running_ steps and then stemming or turning
before he loses impetus. Another plan (which should always be followed)
is to try the position for every manoeuvre at a _standstill_, and to
make sure that it is accurate in every detail before attempting that
manoeuvre while running. This can, of course, also be done without
skis, indoors. Indoor exercises being a pet fad of mine, I herewith
suggest a few as more or less direct aids to ski-ing--if I had not been
actually asked to do so, fear of ridicule would have prevented me.
(1) Place heels together and knees touching, and try to turn toes
outwards until feet are in a straight line (kick-turn).
(2) Make as wide a straddle as possible, then try to make it wider.
Turn toes in as far as possible (snow-plough).
(3) Place yourself in Telemark position, right foot leading, knees
pressed inwards. Change with a jump to same position, _left_ foot
leading. Repeat quickly, bringing your feet to _exactly_ the same
places on the floor that they occupied before, and not letting them
point outwards.
(4) Stand on tiptoe, feet parallel and touching. Squat and straighten
up again repeatedly.
(5) Stand on one foot, holding the other clear of the floor; sit on the
heel and rise again.
(6) Stand on one leg and move the other about in all directions.
(7) Stand with feet parallel and touching. Let yourself slowly fall
forwards, saving yourself at the last possible moment by a jump with
the feet together. Repeat this in all directions.
(8) Stand with feet in straight line, one in front of the other. Jump
as high as you can, land, steadily balanced, on the spot you left.
(9) Practise the "Sats," both methods, also drawing up your legs in
the air, saving yourself from a forward fall in each case either by
dropping into Telemark position or by a jump forward with both feet
together.
(10) Stand with feet parallel and touching, knees together and bent,
body slightly stooping. Swing arms and shoulders, and turn head as far
round to the right as you can. Reverse position sharply with a _jump_,
so that feet then point to the right, shoulders and head full to left.
Repeat this quickly.
* * * * *
If you find any of the balancing exercises too easy, try them with your
eyes shut. Number (10) may not teach you the "jerked" Christiania, but
is highly beneficial to the liver.